>> you take something that is here and you say it's going to go all the way over there. there is no indication -- i can understand your saying that's the threat but there's nothing that anyone in the administration has said that indicates they are going to have a universal registry. >> obama care wasn't a tax until they needed it to be a tax. >> it was the supreme court that said that. >> i don't think you can trust -- >> let's dive in and get straight to the telephone now. rield congressman jamrhode isla james langevin joins me. he has been touched by gun violence in his own life. sir, good to have you with me. as we talk about this with the president really getting back on the road where he does his best work campaign style, taking his message to minnesota, i want to remind everybody this is at the feet of harry reid in the senate right now to move on this, and he appeared this weekend with abc's george stephanopoulos. take a listen to his thoughts. >> how about restrictions on

high capacity magazines for ammunition? >> i think that's something we definitely have to take a look at. >> take a look or vote for? >> let's see what it is. >> sir, in your opinion, do you think that right now the best approach is going to be agreement on both sides of the aisle on small steps and that small step being potential for universal background checks as opposed to talking about the assault style weapons ban and magazine clips? >> well, first, i want to give president obama high marks for continuing to make gun control a top priority of his administration, especially so early on. whenever you talk about gun-related issues, it gets my attention. i was a 16-year-old police cadet when i was in the police locker room one afternoon getting ready to go on my shift and a police officer's gun accidentally went off and the bullet went through my neck and severed my spinal cord. i have been paralyzed ever since. my accident happened in what should have been the safest of environments yet it just goes to

show you can't prevent every gun-related issue and more guns around people isn't necessarily the answer, the nra would suggest. i believe we should focus on those things that are most important, universal background checks, the assault weapons ban and also, elimination of these high capacity gun magazines. this is going to be our focus and i hope we can get something done on this. >> congressman, are you worried that in the ranks democratically that there might be issues because the "wall street journal" talks about the senate side of this and the senate bill, saying the strategy outlined also reflects a growing sense within democratic ranks that some of the president's most ambitious goals, particularly the call for new bans on certain types of military style guns, often described as assault weapons, may be unrealistic. this is according to a reid aide. again, i get back to harry reid really being the key point person to be able to take

through feinstein's newly introduced bill and any other type of measures that the president would like to see put through the senate first. do you think, though, that harry reid being a pro-gun democrat, is the best person to helm this through the senate side? >> you were just talking about members of the house and senate in a vacuum, some of that may be true but i believe the president's strategy is the right one by going right to the american people and making the case that we need universal background checks eliminating the loopholes at gun shows that don't require background checks, going to the american people, talking about an assault weapons ban and also banning high capacity magazines, in an effort to continue to raise awareness, i'm sure the president will talk about this in the state of the union and to help build momentum, i'm organizing an effort with my colleagues, asking members of congress and the house anyway, to give their one state of the union guest

ticket to a person who has been a victim of gun violence or family member. it is going to the american people, keeping this issue front and center and demanding that members of congress pass responsible gun control measures is how we will get this done. i applaud president obama for making it such a priority. >> the state of the union just over a week away now. you bring up the fact that you do like the president's all-encompassing approach. however, the nra has been obstinate in going against the president and anybody else who wants to talk about gun control. wayne lapierre, appearing with chris wallace over the weekend, talking about what he believes is the president's stance that he's not being public about. take a listen. >> they leafletted the country with flyers like this, obama's not going to take your gun, obama will protect gun rights, and now he's trying to take away all three. i mean, what they'll do is they'll turn this universal check on the law-abiding into a universal registry of law-abiding people and

law-abiding people don't want that. >> sir, it seems to be that wayne lapierre has come out against any type of reform in any general direction that's been discussed so far. when it comes to the second amendment and as someone who has suffered at the hands of an accidental gunshot, what are your feelings about how the left can be better communicating the fact that while support of the second amendment is universal, there needs to be some control of the guns in this country when it comes to the current regulation. >> well, it's interesting because i also saw a clip of mr. wayne lapierre over the weekend where he was speaking several years ago about his thoughts on universal background checks and he universally endorsed universal background checks, including closing the gun show loophole which i found astounding but refreshing. i wish he didn't have such short-term memory because if we could continue to play that clip and could continue to get him perhaps to come back to his

original position, then we can truly get something done on background checks. look, one law or one change in the gun law alone isn't going to get this done. it's going to have to be several steps, including getting weapons off our streets but i believe we can respect the second amendment, we can protect law-abiding gun owners, but at the same time, work together to try to keep guns out of the hands of criminals or people that have been judged to have a mental illness that would preclude them from owning a weapon. and we need to do this together, and i want to make sure we are continuing to appeal to the american people to speak out, reminding people you can have a major impact on whether or not gun laws get passed. it really is up to the american people to pressure members of congress to act and i call on them to be more vocal. >> congressman, thanks so much for joining me this morning. i appreciate it. just a reminder, watch the

president's remarks about gun violence and control on regulations coming up at 2:30 eastern right here on msnbc, the place for politics. i want to bring in our monday morning political power panel. david nakimora, chris koufenis and alice stewart. david, the president basically getting back on the campaign trail, reinvigorated, reinaugurated and taking this message straight to minnesota. explain the strategy of going to minneapolis. >> you touched on it earlier. the idea that the president, when he came into office four years ago, said he could change washington from the inside through the force of his election back then. he found out it's not that easy to do. the white house really committed to the strategy of going around the country trying to sell their proposals. one of the things he said was one of his biggest regrets of the first time was he didn't tell the people where he's trying to take the country so he will use minnesota which you mentioned, it has a record of reducing violent crime particularly gun crime over the

last decade. a decade and a half. you saw this last week, the president did it on immigration. he will do it again here with gun control. he will keep doing it and try to mobilize the american people to sort of put pressure on congress. >> chris, you would think the president would get the most support from within his own party. when we talk about harry reid and his affiliation with the nra, we are reminded of his thoughts about the nra this weekend with george stephanopoulos. take look. >> i have been supported by the nra on occasion. i know wayne lapierre. he has always been extremely pleasant to me. we have a good relationship. so i am not here to demean the organization. >> not there to demean the organization. he has been a benefactor of campaign contributions from them. the nra spending in 2012, just to show everybody, $1 million in direct contributions to elected leaders, $25 million in outside spending, $6 million in federal lobbying, a total of $32 million. is harry reid one of the bigger obstacles in getting this to the floor on the senate? >> i wouldn't say he's the biggest obstacle.

i think harry reid is a difficult position. he wants obviously something to move forward that helps address part of the problem and i think if you look at 2014 and you look at the midterm elections, look at key states where democrats have to defend, red states, alaska, west virginia is an open seat, arkansas, these are rural states where the democrats have a different perspective on gun rights and have a better relationship, if you will, with the nra. that being said, i think everyone has come to terms that something needs to be done and the question is what can be done, what should be done, then also, what can pass not just the senate, by the way, but also the house. that's why i think you are seeing this movement towards not universal background checks. i personally don't like that term because i think it exaggerates what the reality is. we're talking about criminal background checks, strengthening what is already in place so that it's fair and balanced for everyone. >> one thing, though, with the senate and dianne feinstein introducing the assault weapons ban, the newly invigorated policy for 2013, there hasn't been a lot of people coalescing

around that, so to speak, in washington, d.c. a lot of people trying to put some daylight between themselves and what the senator would want to see. i want to show everybody what wayne lapierre had to say in direct reference to dianne feinstein over the weekend. take a look. >> i don't think you can trust -- i mean, my gosh, dianne feinstein said if we can go door-to-door and pick them all up, i'd do it. >> when we talk directly about what the nra represents and wayne lapierre being out there, being the spokesperson, the front and center person about second amendment rights, does he demean the argument by the fact that he shows up and would rather fearmonger than talk about facts? >> he's talked quite a bit in that interview about the facts, primarily one of the good points he made was universal background checks aren't universal, they only apply to law-abiding citizens and the fact is a lot of these policies that are going to be proposed in the next weeks

and months to come simply won't work because the previous assault weapons ban did not do anything significantly to reduce gun violence. what we need to do as the congressman said and chris said, there's a multi-layer approach to addressing gun violence. it's not simply gun control. we need to look at mental health aspect, we also, there are other factors that have been in play in some of these mass shootings such as the entertainment industry. but what we need to look at when talking about guns is enforcing the laws that we currently have because if we put too many restrictions in outlawing guns, we are only going to have outlaws with guns. >> one thing the president has been getting a lot of criticism from the right about, what his affiliation is to guns. in '08, when the supreme court upheld an individual's right to have access to their own personal firearm through the second amendment, the president supported that. recently, the president has been talking about the fact that he shoots skeet at camp david. lot of people snickered at that, criticized the fact that doesn't

happen most likely. then the white house releases this picture. david, what's the reaction been in and around washington, d.c. because it seems as if the white house responded saying after the president was asked sure, i shoot skeet, people didn't believe it, then there's been a lull in between this picture showing up which gave people time to snicker more about it. now they're saying oh, look, here it is. would they have been better off not releasing the picture? >> you know, it's interesting because it's hard to know why the president mentioned it in that interview. he was asked directly if he ever shot a gun so he answered honestly but it did take awhile for the spokesman didn't want to address it, said he didn't know, didn't have any information for several days. they finally on a saturday released this picture and it got a lot of play on the front page of the "new york times" and "washington post." i think they were trying to quiet the cynicism of people who completely doubted the entire thing. the idea here was the president was trying to say i recognize that people want guns for recreational activities and other things so they released this to show -- it's a little

awkward, though. i don't know that people think one photo of the president at camp david shooting skeet will make them sympathetic to sports shooters but that's the idea t white house was trying to put out there. >> talking about the strategy of the white house and how this picture got out there, david axelrod appeared on "morning joe." i want to play his reaction. >> i think i don't understand -- they should have put the picture out earlier. i don't know why they waited five days to put that out because it just rekindled the whole story. >> so this doesn't put a clamp on the story? i mean -- >> i'm still struggling with what the story is. >> why doesn't anybody take the president at face value? he says i shot skeet before, everybody says no you haven't. then five days goes by and they have to produce a picture to prove he has. >> if anyone wants to know what's wrong with american politics, this is a perfect example. here's the reality. whether people think the president loves guns or doesn't, he has made it very clear he supports and respects the second

amendment. the bigger question, the bigger issue is how do you address this explosion of gun violence in this country. when you're talking about criminal background checks, strengthening the process, when background checking process in place right now has helped prevent over 1.7 million criminals from getting guns, that is not a bad thing. that is not taking gun rights away. you still can buy a gun but by the way, it will make it difficult for criminals to buy guns. law-abiding gun owners, people who love and respect the second amendment should want that. >> the nra came out with their reaction saying one picture does not erase a lifetime of supporting every gun ban and every gun control scheme imaginable. alice, do you think it's a mistake for the nra not to recognize that the president has come out in support of the '08 decision by the supreme court, has now shown a recreational picture of shooting skeet, to say the president supports the second amendment, we trust that he supports the second amendment, now we just need to come to a common place on what gun violence control means in

this country? >> well, i think in terms of them releasing the picture, i think they were darned if they do and darned if they didn't. it would have been nice to put it out right when it happened but i don't think that's the big issue. what i do think, though, in all honesty, i think it does show hypocrisy because he is trying to demonstrate that he respects gun ownership and second amendment rights when so much of the focus has been on limiting and restricting gun ownership to law-abiding citizens in this country when we all know that criminals are going to go in the back door and get guns anyway. so that's the only problem i have with that picture is that while he's trying to say that he embraces what law-abiding citizens can do, his main focus in this big picture, the serious problem on gun violence has been simply about gun control and that's not the right answer because we've seen throughout history these bans and a lot of these procedures he's proposing are not working and the concern is that he has said what

congress won't pass he is more than willing to look at executive action. that's not the right answer. >> you hear him talk about executive action this afternoon? he's coming up at 2:30 speaking from minnesota. >> notions or accusations that the president has gone after the second amendment are complete fantasy. complete fantasy. it's not actually true. even the measures the president is talking about right now are by any measure, any common sense measure, reasonable. in fact, the idea of strengthening criminal background checks is supported by the majority of nra members, period. >> i want to say my thanks to our power panel today. alice, i'm going to assume you lost your voice cheering for my ravens last night. >> i did. >> excellent. excellent. i got my purple tie on as i promised to everybody. it would be a really bad monday, i got to tell you, a really bad monday if they didn't pull it out last night. >> it was a great game. >> great game. >> thanks for joining me this morning. i appreciate it. we'll move on to talk about something else. an elected leader, ed koch, being remembered right now as

tough and colorful. the former mayor of new york city, his funeral being held at temple emanuel on the upper east side of new york city. former president bill clinton is among the speakers at the funeral today. he is representing the obama administration. the mayor died of congestive heart failure on friday morning. he was 88 years old. coming up, just 25 days until the next potential fiscal crisis. the sequester could have devastating impact on our current economy, particularly the job market. we get ezra klein in. plus, the highlights and no-lights of the super bowl. a record-breaking night in so many ways, on the field and on the clock, but also an electrifying night when the power was working, of course. then the power goes out. it was crazy. what was your most memorable moment of the super bowl? [ male announcer ] it's simple physics...

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so the countdown is on, just 25 days away from the latest government fiscal crisis, sequestration. if congress and the president can't come up with $1.2 trillion in cuts by march 1st, the pentagon will be hit by a series of cuts worth $500 billion, $700 billion would be cut from other domestic discretionary programs. president obama is warning that that has to stop. >> washington cannot continually operate under a cloud of crisis. that freezes up consumers, it gets businesses worried. we can't afford these self-inflicted wounds. >> work under a cloud of crisis. joining me now, msnbc policy analyst and "washington post" reporter, ezra klein. good to have you here. before i get to the potential impact of sequestration, do you think it's really going to happen or is congress going to reach a deal to stop these cuts?

i point out the countdown is on with only so many days to go. >> i think it might happen. they don't seem to have a good way to stop the cuts. i should just say i think it's $500 and $500 billion on domestic and pentagon side. either way, there's not been really anything even near a deal to deal with sequestration, partially because of how it actually got constructed in the first place. initially, the idea behind the sequestration was it was the backstop for the super committee, meant to be the thing that neither party could allow to happen, thus it would force them to come to a deal in the super committee. obviously, they have been able to allow it to happen enough that they didn't come to a deal in the super committee and now they can't seem to find anything they like better, because republicans wouldn't allow tax increases in it and as such, they gave democrats spending cuts that are very friendly to democratic priorities, medicaid is fully exempted, social security is protected, veterans benefits and pell grants are protected. nobody has a really great incentive to change it because

nobody has anything that they really like that much better. >> does that mean, because this is what's gotten us here, a temporary fix, are we going to get another temporary, you know, kicking the can down the road? >> right. that i think is very possible outcome here. we got in the super committee deal a delay of two months, maybe three months on the sequester. they just paid for that amount with a couple very, very small cuts and gimmicks. we could keep doing it that way instead of replacing $1 trillion or $1.2 trillion in spending cuts, we could replace $100 billion, $200 billion at a time. the problem is you can do that once, maybe twice, pretty quickly you run out of places to find that $100 billion or $200 billion. it's not easy to keep doing that. it's tough on the political system. one thing that should be said about sequester is it's very tough on the economy. i was talking to mark zandi the other day of moody's. he's looking at about a half percentage point hit to gdp growth due to sequester. that's pretty large.

>> so a number of politicians including the house budget committee chair, paul ryan, they think the sequester is going to happen. do republicans believe that anything can be gained politically if it happens? what are the partisan motives behind this? >> i think there is a lot of bluffing happening around the sequester. you will remember during the campaign mitt romney and paul ryan crisscrossed the country saying these cuts would be devastating for the country and they would hollow out defense. important to know the pentagon gets treated incredibly roughly under the sequester. just a couple months ago, republicans could see no way forward with this sequester, it was a total disaster for them. then they decide not to fight on the debt ceiling and they need to move the attention on to something else. say they do have leverage elsewhere. so they have chosen sequester and put up a very brave face on it. it's possible they could convince themselves to let it actually happen but the idea that they get some sort of significant political gain from it, these are cuts they hated and they hated in large part because they hurt things they care about. so to permit the sequester to go forward on that kind of rationale is not a political

win, not a policy win. everybody is losing. >> the "new york times" op-ed says more than a million jobs are on the line if this deal isn't made. a quote saying the losses will soon spread as contracts to states and cities are cut, education and police grants are cut, and payments to medicare providers are cut, even the aid just approved to victims of hurricane sandy will fall under the sequester's act. americans are about to find out what happens when an entire political party demands deficit reduction at all costs because those costs will be enormous. that being an editorial. the economic impact of all of this, when we look at that, when does it really trump political fears that this is a real reality? >> it might never trump political fears. have you noticed politicians being so worried about preserving the economy the last couple years? we could hit, and it's worth saying we have not actually come to one of these cliffs or deadlines where we have gone over. we didn't shut down the government in february 2011,

didn't breach the debt ceiling in august 2011, didn't go over the fiscal cliff for very long in january of 2012, and we very likely and at least could kick off the debt ceiling for a couple months so far, so so far we haven't actually gone over any of these, nor have we come to permanent solutions. either we'll have to come to permanent solution or eventually sometime, somewhere, we are going to have to go over one of these cliffs because there won't be another option. >> we will let you go. either you have forced all your colleagues to get around the television set and watch this or something big is going on behind you. >> there's a lot of applause behind me. >> there is. your answers are so good, they are applauding you. thank you, sir. read up on the sequester and all other things in the "washington post." coming up, america's most decorated sniper ever gunned down in cold blood. there are serious questions surrounding his death. plus -- >> america can do this. for us. please. >> a super campaign, mayors

against illegal guns make their case in front of a national audience. who were they trying to reach? [ coughs ]

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big time taste should fit in a little time cup. new single serve cafe collections from maxwell house now available for use in the keurig k-cup brewer. always good to the last drop. as president obama heads to minneapolis to push for more gun laws, more than 800 mayors are getting their message out about gun control. the group mayors against illegal guns ran a super bowl ad last night using children's voices, accusing the nra of making a complete turnaround on universal background checks. >> the nra once supported background checks. >> we think it's reasonable to provide mandatory instant criminal background checks for every sale at every gun show, no loopholes anywhere for anyone. >> america can do this, for us. >> joining me now is atlanta

mayor kasim reed. mr. mayor, great to have you here. i want to point out the ad we saw portions of there, it was only run in the washington, d.c. area and wayne lapierre was of course on the sunday talk shows over the weekend claiming the government is out to get everyone's guns. would your ad have had a bigger impact if it had played to a larger audience across the nation? >> well, i think it would have, but that's why i'm here today. this ad will be seen by millions of people really through the power of social media and certainly through mainstream communication efforts. the bottom line is we're making a -- sending a clear signal that we understand we are in the hard part of this debate and we are now trying to get a bill and what we are seeing from the other side is that they're not going to give an inch on any issue. that's really what the ad points out. but what i don't think people have anticipated is how committed to mayors across

america led by mayor michael bloomberg are to actually getting a real bill that has absolute background checks for anyone who purchases a firearm, that limits the number, the size of the cartridge to ten bullets or less, that permanently closes the gun show loophole. and we knew this would be hard, we knew this would be tough, but we think that the super bowl ad is going to stir the conversation as we go into the hard part of this debate, and you're seeing the president on the road right now. >> again, he's going to be appearing 2:30 live in minneapolis. but sir, as the policy debate continues, there's been a lot of debate about the use of children. this ad features children's voices, yet the nra was blasted for releasing an ad that mentioned president obama's daughters. how do you justify the use of children's voices in this ad to score political points? >> well, thomas, i really think

that that is absolute false equivalency. bringing the president's children who are well known and who have to be protected is fundamentally different from using the voice of a child to echo a horrible tragedy that occurred in newtown, where 20 children were lost. no one was cited as a part of this ad. the only thing that occurred is that a child's voice was used to narrate testimony that is completely opposite of the current position of the other side. so to say that the ad that ran during the super bowl is comparable to the ad that used the president's children, i just think is a case, a massive case of false equivalency. they aren't the same and we should not be prohibited from using the voice of children when at the end of the day, they were the victims who were shot repeatedly, multiple times, by that monster at sandy hook.

>> mayor, it was just last week in the news that a georgia middle school student was shot at their school in the back of the neck. they are okay, recovering, but what does your coalition think should be done to make schools safer? is that part of the policy debate that goes on as well? >> absolutely. fortunately, the young man, i visited with he and his mom personally, he is doing well. we apprehended the shooter immediately. but i have been in support of making sure that we have appropriate guards for our schools in the city of atlanta, although they are independent. i also have made the proposal to link every single school in the city of atlanta into our video integration system at police headquarters so that we can have eyes in our schools and in the event there is a tragedy, it would allow us to deploy our police to the campus much faster and it will give us eyes on the ground so that we have greater situational awareness. that's what we are going to do in atlanta. >> before i let you go, i want

to ask you about the news, senator chambliss retiring, his seat becoming available. have you made any decisions about whether or not you want to officially throw your hat in the ring and make a run for his seat? >> thomas, i'm just loving being mayor, focused on being mayor. i think there are terrific candidates out there. congressman barrow would be terrific. i think peter eamon would be terrific as well. i'm going to keep being mayor. >> mayor kasim reed of atlanta, sir, thanks for joining me. i appreciate it. >> nice seeing you, thomas. what a night, what a nail-biter. what a game, a ratings blockbuster for the history books in every sense of the word and a big bonus, a win for the ravens. i'm a baltimore boy. now the highlights, the lowlights and no-lights of super bowl xlvii for you. jennifer hudson started things off with a touching nod to the newtown massacre victims, singing "america the beautiful" with sandy hook elementary

school's choir. who knew after the coin toss how long that game would run. rather long. longer than alicia keys' anthem. ♪ at the twilight's last gleaming ♪ >> did great, though. it started on the cusp of a ravens' blowout, baltimore scoring 26 points in the first half alone. it was amazing. then we have beyonce putting all the lip sync naysayers to rest and had a flash point of star power, reuniting with the ladies of destiny's child. on the return after that show, the ravens stayed revved up, turning the second half kickoff into a 108 yard sprint to glory. then things went dark. a power outage at the superdome cutting play by some 34 minutes. plenty of ads distracted all of us from that, including one controversial spot from godaddy.

yeah. anyway, on the flipside of that, ram trucks had a touching tribute to farmers. >> i need somebody strong enough to clear trees and heave bales, yet gentle enough to wean pigs. so god made a farmer. >> the voice of paul harvey talking about why god made a farmer. great commercial. when the lights finally xwcame back on, it was tense. but in the end, team purple reigned supreme. final score ravens 34-31 with joe flacco getting mvp. despite sibling coach rivalry, brother love prevailing. >> you know, going against my brother all these years, you had a feeling he would come roaring back. his team reflects his personality. they came roaring back. they just have so much character, amazing competitors. it's a great football team and i'm proud of jim and very

impressed with that team. >> as for the white house, they played it politically safe. this bowl got the most ratings ever, edging out last year's packers and steelers contest. now, others went to the dogs. talking about the puppy bowl, the most valuable pooch there, marta. if we took the nissan a and reimagined nearly everything in it? gave it greater horsepower and class-leading 38 mpg highway... advanced headlights... and zero gravity seats? yeah, that would be cool. introducing the completely reimagined nissan altima. it's our most innovative altima ever. nissan. innovation that excites. now get a $199-per-month lease on the 2013 nissan altima. ♪

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eddie ray routh, a marine corps reservist, 25 years old, who apparently, according to reports, was suffering from ptsd. now, chris kyle and other veterans there in texas would often try to independently help those with ptsd by taking them to shooting ranges to sort of blow off steam. now, according to officials in texas, this was the first time that kyle and his friend had met eddie ray routh at this shooting range about 50 miles outside ft. worth on saturday, when suddenly and allegedly, routh opened fire with a hand gun at point-blank range allegedly again killing both kyle and the other former service member. now, routh is in jail, he's expected to be charged with two counts of capital murder at this time, and according to law enforcement officials, the exact motive is unclear. again, it's suspected he was suffering from ptsd. we don't have that officially

from anybody, but exactly what triggered that shooting incident is still in question. and there are also some questions being raised about what psychiatrists call exposure therapy, the thought that you can expose those troubled veterans to a shooting range, for example, to blow off steam. sometimes that helps but psychiatrists will tell you it's got to be done clinically and under professional supervision so there are some questions about those kinds of activities for somebody who may be suffering ptsd. >> certainly kyle was trying to foster this young man and help out a former brother in arms, basically. one detail, though, about the background of chris kyle not only an author, he also appeared on the nbc reality series "stars earn stripes." is it true by his own account, i believe, that he had over 150 enemy kills? >> that's right.

and you know, that would be the most kills by any u.s. military sniper in history. a highly decorated, highly respected veteran but also one who is devoted to those other veterans in trouble. >> such a sad story. jim, great to see you. thank you, sir. want to bring you an update on the funeral for former new york city mayor ed koch. it's under way currently as we speak in the city. moments ago, former president bill clinton gave a touching speech about the iconic mayor. >> he used to say he was a liberal but he was sane, which was another way of saying i believe in government but you have to look at the impact of this. i don't think i ever debated, discussed, agreed with, argued with anybody in this line of work who had a better feel for the impact of what people in government did on the real lives of people. >> among the other speakers, new

york mayor michael bloomberg. ed koch passed away. he was 88 years old. next, president obama weighing in on the boy scouts' proposal to end its ban on gay members. plus, why valentine's day could hold very special meaning for many in illinois this year. then our question of the day for you, what was your most memorable moment of the super bowl? this has now been officially deemed the most watched super bowl in history. my doctor told me calcium is efficiently absorbed in small continuous amounts. citracal slow release continuously releases calcium plus d with efficient absorption in one daily dose. citracal slow release.

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attitude is that gays and lesbians should have access and opportunity the same way everybody else does. >> not everybody agrees with that. texas governor and former republican presidential candidate rick perry says the scouts should not soften its anti-gay stance. perry is a former eagle scout. so the push for equality is also gaining momentum in illinois. state senate leaders there believe the marriage equality bill that they have drafted has enough votes to pass and are pushing to do so by valentine's day. joining me now to talk about that is illinois state senator heather stains. great to have you with me. let's dive in and talk about this. we have seen marriage equality measures pass throughout the country, most vividly and historically by popular vote in november. so explain to all of us how your bill may differ from laws that already exist on the books in your home state. >> well, currently we have civil

unions. we passed civil unions about two years ago in illinois. so what we're now going to be looking at in the senate executive committee tomorrow and then tomorrow and then next week hopefully to the full senate floor for a vote is providing freedom to marry for gays and lesbians chshgs will give them access to the full benefits of marriage. if the federal supreme court overturns doma, the defense of marriage act, which the supreme court is hearing that in march and april later this year. >> you know, we've been hearing a lot from people on the right. you know, national elected leaders from your state talking about this issue. while this is something that are you putting forward on a state level initiative, there is a split among gop colleagues. i want to play for everybody because congressman from illinois who has come out against the repeal of doma and against the president and the fact that the department of justice is not going more aggressively after those cases, he was questioned about his

support or lack thereof for marriage equality. let's take a listen. >> why don't you support that issue, by the way? >> well, i -- i just haven't. >> i mean, is there a reason? it seems to be a few states have passed it. obviously that's -- the needle is moving, and i just wonder what the reason is. >> i think everybody has a set of beliefs on issues, social issues in particular, that they -- that are a reflection of how they were raise and their set of beliefs. >> it seems like the congressman there was caught flat-foot odd that question that he has been out front of before, and there has been talk that he might be interested in running for governor of illinois. does that make you worry based on where the vote count stands right now to get marriage equality passed by the 14th? >> well, two things. first, i want to point out that this is civil marriage. fully protect religious freedom as well, that no religious faith, tradition will have to solemn niz or consecrate any marriage it chooses not to do

so, so this is really civil marriage and proceeding equal access to everybody under our laws while protecting freedom of religion. the second point is when we heard this exec committee earlier in january the republican leader indicated she was hoping very much it would be a bipart sfwlan bill, that we could work out some language issues chshgs we have been doing with some republicans. i don't think this should be a partisan issue, but, you know, we'll have to see how the vote actually goes, but i certainly hope we can get bipartisan support. >> illinois state senator heather, thank you for joining us. i appreciate your time and for everybody else, we'll be right back after this. [ female announcer ] today, jason is here

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aarrggh!

we asked and you answered. the question being what was your most memorable moment of the super bowl?

angel says, it was destiny's child reunion. that was pretty good at the halftime show. clarence tweets "the 109 yard run and the blackout." officially i think it's tied at 108. they reconfigured the run there. and jay saying it was the budweiser commercials. they were all pretty good. can we turn off this song a little bit? not down. there we go. baltimore from "hairspray." that's right, people. keep the comments coming in on twitter and facebook. just love that song, you know? that's going to wrap things up for me today. see you back here tomorrow at 11:00 a.m. eastern. joining me on the show women's self-advocate sandra fluke and dana millbank. now with alex wagner comes your way next. barrelful? the carful? how about...by the bowlful? campbell's soups give you nutrition, energy, and can help you keep a healthy weight. campbell's. it's amazing what soup can do.

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